Telemundo’s El Chema ran for two seasons and 85 episodes, opening on December 6, 2016, and closing on April 3, 2017. It is a spin-off of El Señor de los Cielos, produced by Argos Comunicación and Telemundo Studios, and it stars Mauricio Ochmann as José María “Chema” Venegas. The show does not ask you to like him. It asks you to watch how far he gets.
A Boy Moving Marijuana Across the Border
The first season traces Chema’s start in organized crime and his rise to running the cartel he leads in El Señor de los Cielos. He began breaking the law as a boy, moving marijuana across the US-Mexican border, then worked upward into a skillful and brutal leader. The series frames him as a long-standing public enemy of both the U.S. and Mexican governments.
That arc is the whole engine. Ochmann carries it as producer and lead, and the show surrounds him with a deep bench: Julio Bracho as Don Ricardo Almenar Paiva, Itatí Cantoral as Blanca, Fernando Noriega as Eutimio “Rojo” Flores, Arcelia Ramírez as Elvira Mendivil, Sergio Basañez as Tobías Clark, and Rafael Amaya returning as Aurelio Casillas. Alejandro Speitzer and Scarlet Gruber play the younger Almenar Paiva and Blanca.
Why the Spin-Off Holds Up
A spin-off usually lives or dies on whether its central figure can hold a story without the parent show’s gravity. El Chema answers that early. The younger-cast scenes give the rise a spine, and the present-day cartel material gives it a destination. Crime and drama are the listed genres, and the series keeps both in plain view rather than dressing them up.
The first season runs 84 episodes and landed on Netflix on July 1, 2017, which widened its reach well past the original broadcast.
The Numbers Behind El Chema
- Network: Telemundo
- Premiere: December 6, 2016
- Finale: April 3, 2017
- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 85 (season one: 84)
- Genres: Crime, Drama
- Netflix (season one): July 1, 2017
- TMDB audience score: 7.7/10 (756 votes)
Broadcast and Streaming Run
| Run | Start | End |
|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | December 6, 2016 | — |
| Season 2 | — | April 3, 2017 |
| Netflix (S1) | July 1, 2017 | — |
The gap is the tell. A 7.7 from 756 voters is a solid number, not a rapturous one, and it fits a show that executes a familiar rise-and-fall structure with real craft but few surprises. The cast depth is the strongest argument for it; the length is the strongest against. Eighty-four episodes for one season is a lot of room, and the series fills it unevenly.
What matters most is Ochmann. He produces and leads, and the show’s best passages are the ones where Chema’s ascent costs him something visible. What matters least is the mythology borrowed from El Señor de los Cielos — the crossover appeal is real, but it is not why this works.
7.7 of 10.
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